


Till the End of the Line

by SecretStream



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Mentions of Time Travel, Steve does not stay in the past, because that's stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28794636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretStream/pseuds/SecretStream
Summary: Bucky thinks Steve isn't coming back. Steve is determined to prove him wrong.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 7
Kudos: 72





	Till the End of the Line

Steve would always love Peggy. But he had never been  _ in love _ with her. Sure, he’d been on his way there, but you couldn’t really expect him to fall in love with someone he’d known for about five months, could you? That’s not enough time for him to fall in love. Maybe it is for some people. But not him. She became a symbol. A motivation. He could look at that picture and think, ‘ _ What would Peggy do?’  _ The answer was always better than what he could ever do.

Steve would always love Bucky. And he  _ was _ in love with him. Not that he’d ever told him that. The 40s were not the best time to make love confessions to your same sex best friend. Then Bucky was the Winter Soldier, and then just as he was getting better, he was gone.

_ “I went in the ice in ’45 right after I met the love of my life.”  _ False. Right after he  _ lost  _ the love of his life, he should have said. But Bucky was too hard to talk about. Why not let them believe what they want? None of them really care anyway. That’s not the point of therapy, he knows. Oh well. 

Bucky thinks he’s not coming back. Steve can see it in his eyes, in his whole face. He thinks he’s going to return the stones and not come back. Bucky thinks he’s going back to Peggy. The idea had crossed his mind and was immediately dismissed. The only thing worth going back for would be Peggy. Everything else he loved was here in the present. It wouldn’t be worth it.

And he would never leave Bucky. It’s sad that Bucky thinks he would, and as soon as he gets back he’s going to work on that. Bucky deserves to know how much Steve loves him.

\---

Bucky hugs Steve and says goodbye, and tries not to cry at the thought of never seeing him again. Because he’s leaving, it’s so obvious. He refused to let anyone go with him, and he’s had that weird look on his face all day. And why wouldn’t he go back, anyway? Go back to Peggy and the comforting atmosphere of the time you’re used to, even though it wasn’t that great, really. What was so good about the 40s? Bucky knows he’s spiraling, but he can’t seem to stop himself. Steve’s leaving and Bucky will never get to say how much he loves him, and he’ll be alone forever with only Sam to keep him company.

Except then he’s back. Bucky had closed his eyes during the Countdown, not sure if he would be able to bear him not being there. But then he heard Sam say teasingly, “Hey man, you look tired. Five seconds stress you out too much?”

There’s no response. Bucky cracks one eye open, and there is Steve, not aged a day, right in front of him. He lets out a sigh that cracks into a half-sob, half-laugh, and holds onto Steve with everything he has. And Steve is holding him too, and then they’re hugging harder than they ever had, and Bucky buries his head into Steve’s shoulder, too relieved he was there to care that he was crying. He hears Sam huff and go off in the other direction, at least nice enough to not watch them like a creep.

“I thought you weren’t going to come back,” he finally croaks out.

Steve chuckles wetly. “I can’t believe you thought I’d break my promise. You know I’m always with you till the end of the line. I love you, Buck.”

Bucky chokes on another sob. “I love you too. I love you,” he whispers.

Steve lets him go and steps back just the tiniest bit. “I love you,” he says again, more firmly, with that look in his eyes that Bucky recognizes from so long ago. And all of a sudden he knows what he’s trying to say. 

Bucky steps in closer before Steve can say anything else. He lays his hand on the back of Steve’s neck, asking him silently if this was okay. They were always good at talking without actually speaking. Steve nods, and leans closer himself. Bucky meets him, and they are kissing. It’s perfect until they start smiling, and they break the kiss to just grin at each other.

“I’ve wanted to do that since ’37,” Bucky blurts out, then closes his eyes in mortification. When he opens them, Steve is still grinning.

“Really? For me it was ’41,” he says.

Bucky gapes at him. “What about Peggy?”

Steve shrugs. “Peggy was my attempt at moving on. It’s not like either of us were gonna do anything back then,” Steve points out, which was true. “I really could have fallen for her, too, if I’d had more time. You know me, I have to really know someone before I think about, like, dating them or anything. Peggy was amazing, but the circumstances didn’t add up, and that was okay.”  
Bucky took about ten seconds to digest that before he’s kissing Steve again. This time when they break apart he asks, “Is that your way of saying you wanna take me on a date?”

Steve is suddenly shy. “I mean, if you want to, yeah.”

“Of course I want to,” he says. “I definitely, definitely want to.”

Steve is smiling again. “Okay,” he says. “Okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Punk.”


End file.
